Best Essential Gadgets For Travel

Whether you’re off on holiday or away on business, it’s necessary to know which gadgets are worthy of taking up your valuable packing space. Here’s a fantastic selection of kit including accessories which will complement your existing gear.

Best travel app: Triposo

Triposo apps help you plan your visit to pretty much any country in the world. For example, if you’re planning to travel to Italy, you can download Triposo’s Italy Travel Guide to find out what there is to do in the city you’re going to. You’ll find maps with highlighted attractions, restaurants, bars, supermarkets and photo opportunities, as well as information including directions reviews and contact details for restaurants, museums and more. Other handy features include a phrasebook and currency converter.

Best activity tracker: Fitbit One

If you need some motivation to get active, the Fitbit One will do the job. It tracks your steps, sleep and calories. It also lets you compete with your friends, giving you even more motivation.

Best noise-cancelling headphones: Bose QC20

Headphones are a pretty essential tech travel item. Whether you’re travelling by train or plane, the headphones will cut out all the annoying background noise such as droning engines, people talking and babies crying.

Better still, the QC20 headphones have a unique ‘aware mode’ which you can switch on and off at the touch of a button. This allows a certain amount of background audio through so you don’t miss important announcements such as your flight boarding.

Best action camera: GoPro HD Hero 3

After trying the GoPro for various activities, including mountain biking and ice skating, we could see why the GoPro name is almost synonymous with the action camera concept. We would like to see a helmet strap in the box as standard, but image quality is good in a variety of conditions, the design is reassuringly rugged, and the WiFi controls make operating a camcorder that may be attached to your clothing or a vehicle very friendly. If you have a compatible smartphone you can use its screen as a viewfinder.

Best eReader: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon tweaked its original Paperwhite eReader with a better screen, faster processor and some new features for the latest model. Although you can read ebooks on a tablet, a dedicated eReader is still the best choice for bookworms.

The Paperwhite’s screen is a delight to use even in bright sunlight and the backlight means you can keep reading at night.

Best backup power: Kinkoo Infinite Nova 10500mAh Portable Power Pack

When you’re travelling you are faced with a dual attack on your smartphone’s battery life: you’re using your phone more, and are away from a power socket for hours or even days. The answer is Kinkoo Infinite Nova 10500mAh Portable Power Pack that can keep all your USB-powered gadgets going and going.

The amount of tech we take on holiday with us is astonishing, and which bring problems like too many adapters needed or lack of outlets. Kinkoo Desktop USB Charger is a neat solution that can easily charge up to 6 devices at 8A overall or 2.4A max per port simultaneously to save your valuable time and space, regardless the device.

Best laptop and tech backpack: Wenger

The Wenger laptop backpack is one of the best laptop backpacks we’ve seen. It has buckets of space, padded in all the right places for comfort and gadget protection. There are side pockets for chargers, extra batteries, cables, etc, and also a special iPod/MP3 player pocket in the second large compartment with a headphone cable exit point in the centre. It’s particularly well made for 15-inch laptops and tablets, plus has pockets for your smartphone and cables, too.